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Freshman guard Maite Cazorla finished with nine points and four assists, and senior guard Lexi Petersen had seven points, five rebounds and five assists.

Oregon began the season 11-0 in nonconference play, but had a light schedule.

Once conference competition began, the Ducks lost their first five games — No. 14 UCLA, USC, No. 8 Oregon State (twice) and No. 13 Stanford. Oregon’s only loss since was a 63-58 setback at home to No. 9 Arizona State.

“We’ve responded well. We tried to talk to the team about this — this is fun, this is what we play for, to have a chance down the stretch in big games like this,” Graves said. “I think we’re having some fun with it, and it’s great.”

With the victory, Oregon improved to 18-6 and 7-6 in the Pac-12.

“There’s just a really good spirit, and a really good vibe around the team right now,” Alleyne said. “It’s all or nothing.”

The Ducks received one vote in the AP poll this week, and the NCAA tournament is looking like a possibility.

“Coach said play like we have no tomorrow,” Alleyne said. “And (Utah) is a team we were competing with for sixth place (in the Pac-12), and hopefully spring-boarding us into an NCAA berth.”

Oregon next will host Colorado at 4 p.m. Sunday.

After the Colorado game, the Ducks have four games left — home vs. UCLA and USC, and at California and Stanford — before the Pac-12 tournament, which begins March 3 at KeyArena in Seattle.

“At this time of year, you don’t enjoy them too long,” Graves said. “You got to go to what’s next, and we have another game on Sunday.”

pmartini@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6730 or Twitter.com/PeteMartiniSJ